Secure Your Android Phone’s Settings & Applications With:: APPLOCK

Today’s smartphones are mini-computers. They store your contact details, pictures, diary, and notes. Since a lot of this information is private, you need to ensure that if the phone falls into the wrong hands your information remains secure. For Android phone owners, a tool that helps you do this is App Lock.

App Lock is a free smartphone application for Android devices. The application’s function is simple yet highly useful – it password protects any application you choose. After installation, the app automatically locks the Gmail app and your phone’s settings with the default password ’8888′. You can modify this password anytime and add more apps to the locked list. With your options set, the applications you choose will be inaccessible until you key in the right password.

Features:

• A user friendly smartphone application.
• Compatible with Android devices.
• Secures your installed applications with a password.
• You can add any application to the locked list.
• Helps protect your data.

You can get it from HERE http://www.appbrain.com/app/app-lock/com.cc.applock

Labelert: An Email Notifier For Android That Changes The Color Of Your LED Screen

Sometimes when you are in a hurry and on the go, you do not want to be bothered by unimportant emails on your phone. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell if the new email you have just received is essential or not so you have to open it first to find out.

Labelert is an Android app that allows you to change the LED colors of your phone using the labels in your Gmail account. It also lets you set the notification sounds, vibration settings, and LED flash interval for each label so that it will instantly give you an idea of what the new mail is about without opening it.

To use Labelert, first you need to set up the labels and filters in your Gmail account. Once you have done that, download and install the app in your Android phone and go to preferences. Then choose a label that you want to associate to each color option. Finally, go to the Gmail application of your phone and disable the email notifications in the settings.

Features:

• Get customized email alerts on android.
• Change LED colors for each label.
• Set notification sounds for each label.
• Set vibration settings for each label.
• Change LED flash interval settings for each label.
• Change the color of LED for other emails doesn’t have labels applied to them.

Use qr code below to download the app:

OR

DOWNLOAD it from HERE http://www.appbrain.com/app/labelert-beta/com.labelert

TITANIUM BACKUP for ANDROID

Description provided by the Developer

Extremely powerful backup tool for rooted Android phones !

* Backup/restore regular apps + their settings
* Backup/restore protected apps + their settings
* Backup/restore system settings (incl. Wi-Fi AP list)
* Restores the Market links when restoring apps

* Zero-click background batch backup
* Many batch scenarios (eg: if more than N days since last backup, etc)

* Zero-click app un-installer
* Zero-click system app un-installer

Description from the Market

☆Needs ROOT
☆Android 1.5-2.3+
☆Problem? See Wiki,email me
☆PRO Key on Market!
☆NET access is to d/l busybox

The ONLY tool that can backup, restore, freeze your apps + data + Market links! Even protected apps! 0-click Batch/scheduled backups! PRO version has 0-click batch restores, Dropbox sync, Dalvik cleaner & MORE!

Recent changes:
• Sorry for all the updates. THIS is the one :-)
• Fixed exception when launching widget actions.
• Fixed Italian translation (Preferences screen was broken).
• Fixed Swedish translation (Filters screen layout was broken).
• Neat features were added in 3.6.6, please see Changelog from my web site.

WindowBlinds 7.1.273

Applying visual styles : In addition to the shortcut to the WindowBlinds Advanced Config window in your Start menu, you can change WB visual styles and settings from either the Skins or Appearance tab in Display Properties.

Set the skin to Windows Classic to not use a WB skin on startup (or use the options on the Skins tab or in the Advanced Config window).


WindowBlinds has been designed and tested to be as compatible with with thousands of applications and pieces of hardware available. Its memory load is quite low (unless you are using complex skins with lots of animation) and any oddities with specific apps can generally be worked around quickly.

Here are some key features of "WindowBlinds":

· Apply color to skins
· Skin Windows Start Bar and Explorer
· Add animations to your start panel
· Skin different programs with different skins
· Add more title bar buttons (roll-up, etc..)
· Change color/hue/brightness on the fly
· Change progress animations
· Skin scrollbars and toolbar icons
· Apply textures to Aero skins

Requirements:

· 1GHz or faster processor recommended
· 60MB free drive space
· 256MB RAM
· A 16MB DirectX 8 or later compatible video card with appropriate driver support is required for per-pixel alpha-blended skins. Some integrated graphics solutions and lower-end cards from before 2004 may not be able to use per-pixel skins.



What's New in This Release:

· Native support for Windows 7
· Native Aero skinning for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users
· Native 64-bit support for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users
· Auto-conversion of Windows XP era skins to Windows Vista or Windows 7
· Ability to apply textures to skins
· A new, easy to use configuration program
· Native Clear-Type support for better font handling
· New Skin format called UIS0 for skinning Aero (takes hours instead of days to create a new skin).
· New WindowBlinds 7 skins included such as Submline, Aero Metals, Corporate, Aero Woods, Aero Clay, Sabertooth along with new WindowBlinds 7 skins being released soon after to the public such as Altitude.
· Option to have a random skin applied each logon
· Much better customization of fonts
· Massive performance improvements in applying of skins.
· Optimization of Windows Vista and Windows 7 DWM drawing to improve battery life on laptops.
· Aero skinning (UIS0) is 100% compatible (it’s Aero) with all Windows programs.

DOWNLOAD IT FROM HERE http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BHBWO7VS

Why Do Application Installs Make You Reboot and Close Other Apps?

It’s happened to everybody at some point—you go to install a new application, and Windows tells you to reboot first. Or reboot after. Or it asks you to close out of every other application first. Why does it do that?

In today’s geek lesson we’ll explain exactly why Windows can be so irritating with all this rebooting, and hopefully give you a better perspective into why things work this way.

So Why Are Installers Annoying?

The short answer is that most installers are annoying because they either aren’t written very well, or they integrate too deep into Windows to be able to copy system files and start everything necessary without a reboot.

The problem is compounded because Windows applications often use DLL (dynamic link library) files that are shared between more than one application. It’s a nice idea, but when it comes to installing and uninstalling applications it can be irritating to need to reboot. The really sad thing is that many applications these days are completely self-contained and aren’t replacing built-in Windows DLLs, but their installers still make you reboot.

Here’s a couple of instances where installers might be annoying:

• If the application you’re installing needs to copy new versions of files that are currently in use by another application, it will either prompt you to close all other applications, or it will make you reboot.
• If there’s a previous installation or Windows Update that has pending changes requiring a reboot, some installations will fail and ask you to reboot first.
• If the application you are installing has a plugin for another application, like an Explorer context menu addition, or a browser plugin, it will prompt you to reboot or close the other applications.
• Sometimes badly written installers will ask you to reboot because they don’t start up the required services on their own.

Let’s take a closer look at some of these instances, so you can fully understand what’s going on.

In-Use Files Need to be Copied on Reboot

If the application installer needs to copy some files but they are currently being used, or are system files in the case of Windows Update, it will utilize a Pending feature in Windows that allows an installer to specify that a file operation happens after a reboot, and before everything in Windows has started up.

The installer will write a key to the following location in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager
\PendingFileRenameOperations

If you’ve received an error saying that you need to reboot first, you can open up this key and you’ll see all of the files that need to be replaced on the next reboot.

You probably do not want to mess with the contents of this key, or else things will quickly start to become weird. There are some very rare instances where this key doesn’t get emptied even after multiple reboots, and you might have to wipe the contents of the key—but you should probably avoid doing that unless you are very certain.

Installation Already In Progress

Some installers won’t start up if there’s a current installation in progress, so they will check the following key to see if there’s an installation already happening:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\InProgress

I don’t have a screenshot for this one, but you can get the idea from the name of the key.

Windows Update Makes You Reboot

If you’re getting a message saying that you can’t install an application until you restart your computer, it’s because of Windows Update requiring a forced reboot. So, for example, if you’re getting this error message:

It’s because you probably clicked Postpone when you saw this dialog pop up:

If you head into the registry, you’ll see that there’s a RebootRequired key at this location in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update

There’s a whole bunch of GUID values over on the right-hand side, and while they don’t pertain to anything in the registry, the fact that they are there is what is triggering that message.

Technically you could probably export the contents of the key, install the application, and then put them back—but it could break something, and rebooting isn’t that painful is it?

THANKS TO HTG FOR THIS USEFULL ARTICLE

What is Cloud Computing and What Does This Stupid Buzzword Mean?

What is Cloud Computing?

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the definition for “Cloud Computing” is this incomprehensible piece of nonsense clearly written to be as confusing as possible:

""Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.""

Cloud Computing = Web Applications

That’s all there is to it. If you’re using a web or internet-based application from a major provider like Google or Microsoft, you’re using cloud computing. Congrats!

Every web application that you’ve ever used, like Gmail, Google Calendar, Hotmail, SalesForce, Dropbox, and Google Docs, are based on “cloud computing”, because when you connect to one of these services, you’re really connecting to a massive pool of servers somewhere out there on the internet. The client doesn’t need to be a web browser, but that’s the direction everything is heading.